L04 Task 5

L04, Task 5 Legal, Ethical issues and Regulatory bodies  Shayi Aluwoade

Hello, my name is Shayi Aluwoade, today I will be presenting you with the Legal, Ethical issues and Regulatory bodies of my film, The Notorious movie.

A) The product's impact and effect on the audience

 The hypodermic syringe theory is when the media has a negative effect on the audience, for example, a passive audience may believe everything they see/here and therefore replicate the actions they see. For example in the film I chose, the Notorious movie, at one point, the protagonist is selling drugs, and this therefore links to the hypodermic syringe theory as a passive audience may copy the actions of the protagonist and these actions are of course illegal.
 An active audience is an audience that use the media they are watching for pleasure, unlike a passive audience who may take the film literal, and actually rein-act some of the things they have seen which could be negative.

 A passive audience is an audience that may not only use the film for pleasure but may also rein act the actions they see, which in many cases is a negative thing as for example if it was an action film involving guns etc. these 

 In my film the notorious movie, there are scenes which could have a negative impact on a passive audience, for example, around the start of the film, there is a scene that shows the protagonist, Biggie selling drugs, which of course would have a negative impact on a passive audience, as if they replicated these actions, they would most likely get put in jail, as selling drugs of course is a criminal offence, and the drugs being sold can also have a negative effect on the person using the drugs. Drugs can cause issues like addiction, and also the harm on the body certain drugs can have.

Another example of how my film could have a negative impact on the audience, is the fact that Biggie actually performs an armed robbery, which would have a very negative impact on a passive audience as guns are not only illegal, but performing an armed robbery could potentially lead to somebody being shot, and maybe killed.

 My film could also have a positive effect on the audience as for example, the main story throughout the film is about the protagonist, growing up in a poverty stricken Brooklyn, being able to become a worldwide renowned, hip-hop artist which could inspire a passive audience to maybe try and make it big in the music industry opposed to the typical approach to try and get money in a poverty stricken area, which is usually selling drugs and other illegal activities. Another example of how my film could have a positive effect on the audience is the fact that in some of the lyrics, the protagonist Biggie talks about how his teachers etc. thought he would amount to nothing which therefore had a positive effect on the audience as it inspires them to prove people who may have doubted them in the past, wrong which therefore makes the protagonist Biggie an ideal self to the audience in many aspects based on Carl Rogers theory in 1959.

B) Representation Films in general happen to portray representations and stereotypes, which can lead to either a negative or positive impact. A representation in general is how a group of people or a person is judged in a film or in a media product. In 1980 Stuart Hall had a theory about all representations being mediated. He happened to describe the representations as mediated as he claimed that they use them deliberately to get across the point. This also links to stereotypes in many aspects which can be justified as an exaggerated image or idea of a particular person or race etc.. Tessa Perkins however had a theory in 1979, which happened to state that not all stereotypes are false, which also connotes to films, as in many films there are stereotypes that are true and negative and positive in many aspects. For example a common stereotype is the fact that men are dominant over women, as it is more common for a man to be more dominant in a household than a female.

In my film the Notorious movie there are examples of positive stereotypes in some aspects. One of these stereotypes is the common stereotype that a lot of black people rap, and are dominant in music, which is a positive stereotype in many aspects, as the protagonist’s music is played worldwide, and he is making millions of dollars off of it, which is connoting that his music is very popular. Another stereotype that is negative in many aspects is the stereotype that a lot of black people are drug dealers etc. which although has a lot more to do with growing up in poverty, rather than the race, is still a true stereotype throughout my film as the protagonist Biggie happens to sell drugs throughout the film.

My film also features a counter stereotype as it has qualities which oppose a stereotype and therefore counters the theory that Tessa Perkins put forward in 1979 which happened to state that not all stereotypes happen to be false. It also happens to counter the binary oppositions theory by Levi Strauss as the main counter stereotype throughout my film is the fact that it is stereotyped in general that girls do not really rap in general, whereas in this film the female who goes by the name Lil Kim, actually becomes a pretty renowned rapper which therefore connotes the counter stereotype, especially as a she appears dominant as a female.

C) Legal and Ethical issues

In general a film will happen to use content like music or locations that are not actually owned by the company which means they will have to get permission from the company who owns the content in order to use it to avoid any legal issues. Copyright infringement is when a company or person uses content that they did not create and therefore do not have permission to use. If the creator of the content happens to copyright infringe against the person who used their content without permission, this could lead to the person or company getting sued as copy right infringement is classed as stealing in many cases, In the film in which I am analysing which is the notorious movie. Fox Searchlight pictures will of had to contact the local authorities as many scenes could of causes a public disruption, for example one scene involves a drive Music is another thing which Fox Searchlight pictures will of had to get the rights to as throughout the film Notorious a lot of the music used is by the artist that the film is based on, so therefore they will of had to get copyright from Bad Boy Records, which happens to be owned by Sony, in order to use this music to avoid being taken to court and sued.

The film that I chosen has a BBFC rating of 15, (the BBFC standing for the British Board of Film Classification) This means that the content displayed throughout the film is only suitable for people who are 15 years old and over.  This is mainly down to the sexual content, violence and explicit language presented throughout the film. The explicit language would not be appropriate for people under the age of 15 as words such as the N word are used in many cases, and also many explicit words like the F word, which may not be suitable for younger teenagers/children as these words can be very offensive in many aspects and for example the N word is a word linked to racial hatred which is a very serious matter.

D) Regulatory Bodies

The company who distribute the film have to use a regulation board to review advertisements and films before they release it in order to suggest who can actually watch the film and therefore who can watch it and if the media used is acceptable etc.  When films are reviewed in the UK the British Board of Film Classification have their own system which they use in order to decide what age rating the film is.  British Board of Film Classification is a non-governmental business and is run privately by the UK film industry. My films age rating is a 15, which therefore connotes that viewers who are 15 or older can only watch the film. This is mainly due to violence, sex scenes and explicit language, which are used throughout my film.

My film is a 15 worldwide in places such as the USA and the UK but this however is not the case for all films as some films maintain a different rating worldwide. The BBFC have rated the Notorious movie a 15, as I stated earlier because of the guidelines set which are matched by the sexual content, violence and explicit language displayed throughout the film, for example there is a scene in which Biggie robs a store with some of his crew members, which shows many aspects of violence, as well as explicit language when asking the store keeper for the money. Another example if when Biggie, the protagonist is having sexual activity with the character Lil Kim, which would therefore be to explicit for a younger audience which again connotes why the age rating is a 15.

There is also another regulations company, which are named the ASA, which stands for  `advertising standards authority`. The ASA is based in the UK which was created to regulate the content of advertisements through all different the different media outlets. This means that they monitor adverts in order to make sure the content is not offensive etc. The ASA also has to ensure that every advert used has a responsibility for being presented, in order to protect the public from watching potential, harmful content. The ASA tend to use third party sources also which include advertising codes to in order for them to have a system to judge adverts against. Advertising codes are mainly used to judge media that is not broadcasted such as print media and also media such as the radio, television etc. These are the links to the advertising codes of non broadcasted can infer that throughout the  harm and offence section of these advertising codes for non-broadcasted media, in  harm and offence section 4.2 it happens to state that 'Marketing communications must not cause fear of distress without justifiable reason'. This therefore means that no explicit content can be presented on the poster or any advertisement media related to the film as this violence can appear un-justified. I can infer that section 5 on these advertisement codes can relate to the Notorious film as the age rating is 15 and therefore are still classed as a child. Section 5.1.4 however happens to state that children must not be influenced by the film to copy actions they have seen that might not be safe and cause trouble for a child watching the film. As for example throughout the Notorious movie their are many violent scenes which involve gun crime and selling drugs which would be a bad influence to children

Their are also points made on this non broadcast code about drugs and alcohol and how they should not be used it should not be used and can not be advertised on the poster dangerously as throughout section 18.11 of the advertisement code it happens to state that marketing communications can not feature alcohol being handled or served irresponsibly. As throughout my film there are many scenes where the protagonist is smoking illegal drugs such as cannabis irresponsibly and drinking alcohol, which could be classed as irresponsible. Also on the posters, they are not allowed to advertise any sexually explicit or drug related content, as this could be seen by 15 year olds, and maybe even younger, as the posters reach a mass audience, even though this content may be seen throughout the film, it can not be advertised in public.

Thank you for reading my essay which presented the Legal, Ethical issues and regulatory bodies of the Notorious movie.

           

OCR Cambridge Technical Level 3 Media    Unit 1: Analysing media products and audiences   

Student Name:   Shayi Aluwoade              Class:  12y   Minimum Target Grade for this LO: M   Personal target grade for this LO: M

Provisional grade for LO4 Task 5: M-

Assignment: Production of a series of vlogs analysing a film produced by Warp Films or 20^th Century Fox

LO3 Task 4:  Understand ethical, legal and regulatory issues associated with media products

Task interim Key Tracking Assessments	Work to complete	P	M	Feedback and Upgrades Required
LO4, Task 5	a)     The products impact and effect on the audience b)     Relevant issues of representations c)     Relevant legal and or ethical issues. d)     Role of relevant regulatory bodies.	✓ ✓	✓ ✓	P  Use of theory throughout supported with some examples from your film
				I To secure the MERIT ·       Introduction and outro is missing ·       You get protagonist term mixed up with antagonist ·       In the BBFC, give an example of when strong language, violence and sexual content is used in your film to back up your points. ·       Also give two reasons why the content in your film is not appropriate for a young audience. ·       Include the term CAP codes in the ASA section. ·       For ASA section. How do you know the film adheres to the CAP codes due to what you can see on the film poster (colours/ images). i.e. how does it metaphorically connote the themes in the film, but not directly show them and why. SEE MY COMMENTS
				N ·       Read and include the improvements above – make them bold on your blog. ·       Fill in the self-assessment section of this feedback sheet ·       Submit the final version by the end of the week.
Literacy/ Numeracy/Oracy Assessment on your Unit blog.	·       P  - use of key terms
	·       I    - Capital letters used in the middle of sentences that are not needed.
	·       N   - Read and include the improvements above.

Self-assessment – what do I need to change to pass this task or work on for the next task? (in red) - Add introduction and outro - Improve punctuation - Add more examples for certain aspects of the essay